Broken Britain: the General Election Legacy

In what has been one of the biggest and longest election campaigns, David Cameron and the Conservative Party will rule the nation for another five years. But what do the results reveal about the nation? What legacy will the General Election 2015 leave?

The Conservative Party won a Parliamentary majority, but the fact that the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) won 13% of the nation’s vote, and the Scottish National Party (SNP) won over the Labour Party’s seats, says a lot about a Kingdom which is now more divided than United.

UKIP’s arguments against immigration, and blaming immigrants for the lack of jobs, overcrowding, housing crisis, and strain on the healthcare system essentially promoted the division of the nation from the European Union but left a sinister scepticism within Brits against any different race; ultimately institutionalising racism.

The people of Scotland were given a referendum on independence in which they voted ‘No’, yet the Scottish National Party and Nicola Sturgeon landed a historic landslide after winning over most of Labour’s seats. There is now only one Labour MP in Scotland.

If you thought Conservatives have won outright, then you are looking through rose-tinted glasses. Rather than a right-wing majority, what we have is a wave of nationalism washing over the country.

What is the cause of this? Where has this want for independence stemmed from?

I mulled over various reasons such as technology causing further isolation and physical alienation between humans; Conservatives missing their targets on immigration; Labour no longer spoon-feeding every citizen; a like for the taste of freedom after five years under the Tories?

And the penny dropped. The more and more we become isolated, the more we have a need for an identity. And the more people want a national identity – to reclaim being British or Scottish.

But what legacy does this leave behind for people to read in history books?

A fervent need to establish an identity along with no longer wanting to cooperate with others leads to tyranny, exploitation and supremacy. Like Prospero pushes the ‘native’ aside and places himself at the helm of affairs, the want for supremacy through encouraging nationalist identities means we are returning to a legacy that we long left behind – the values intrinsic to colonialism.

We are no longer neighbours. Scotland is now an ally with the SNP sitting in opposition to the Conservatives. And with so many having voted UKIP this shows how far we have moved from one another in this overcrowded, house-lacking country.

So what do I want to see in the next five years? I want to see us become neighbours again. The disparity between the rich and poor due to distribution of wealth may be significant. but the fact we are all human and can, if we tried, live in peace and harmony holds greater significance.

The fact we are all coinciding and working together to make country run and economy function, and as individuals trying to make our individual households work, we all have the same aim which is to work hard and make a better future for ourselves and future generations.

Let us not be taken by the tide of politics and forget to see outside the bubble of indoctrination and media. Prime Minister David Cameron may have said he will make Great Britain greater, but we, as a nation, can work together to make that true too.